Eyes That See Everything
by keisan
Summary: AU. Matthew saw something he shouldn't have. Now he's in hiding in a new town with new people and a new identity, and he isn't too sure on who to trust. What will happen when he meets a sweet American cop who will stop it nothing to get to know him? AmeCan plus other pairings, including SuFin, GerIta, DenNor, PruHun, and others. Reviews are love!
1. Chapter 1

Eyes That See Everything

By keisan

_Author's Note: Today I was at Union Station and I saw a large group of people in fabulous Hetalia cosplays! It was the highlight of my day and reminded me how desperately I want to make my own APH Canada cosplay. Since I'm awful at doing that sort of thing (and need some help that I don't currently have), I decided that I would write a new APH fic because well…I do that better than designing cosplays. If I poked you or your friend on the shoulder today and exclaimed in my shy way how much I adored your cosplays, then this is a shout out to you and your cool friends. And since I always write from Mattie's point of view, you're kind of stuck with that from me… same goes with my favoured AmeCan pairing. But have no fear, there are other pairings within! Just wait and see. Reviews are love!_

Chapter 1...

* * *

Matthew Williams was late. He cursed to himself softly; he was already not feeling so hot, battling the residual symptoms of a nasty flu. He took in a deep breath and made his way to the bus. Fortunately, there were still plenty of seats left and he sat down near the back in the window seat. He set his things down and breathed in a few calming breaths as he laid his head back into the cushiony seat. The sun was slowly setting on a late, chilly October afternoon and the gentle sway of the bus slowly lulled him into a light sleep.

Some time later, there was an abrupt stop that shook Matthew awake. He looked up to see that he still had some way to go before he was to get off but there were a few new passengers filing onto the bus. Matthew ducked his head down in hopes he remained unnoticed as he usually was. He bit his lip hoping that no one would sit next to him or on him in some cases. It was simpler if someone didn't try to talk to him. People in general made him feel anxious so it was easier to just not go there.

Unfortunately, the rest of the bus seemed to be full up so someone did plop down next to him. Matthew wrapped his arms around him and kept his head down; at least they hadn't sat _on_ him. He peered through his messy strawberry blond bangs at the man sitting next to him. There was a tilt of confidence to this man's chin; he was tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed, and looked decently built. His hands were large and strong and he lifted up a heavy looking bag and set it down beneath his chair.

The man seemed to suddenly notice Matthew's gaze and flashed him a friendly smile, "Hi!"

Matthew looked up at him fully and quietly nodded, "Hello."

The guy seemed a little intimidating to Matthew so he shied away, hoping the guy would get the hint and stop talking to him.

"You getting off the bus soon?"

Matthew frowned suspiciously, "Maybe, why?"

The other man shrugged, "Just making conversation. I'm Alfred, Alfred Jones."

Matthew studied him for a moment before deciding he didn't look too untrustworthy and shook his hand. "I'm Matthew Williams."

Alfred grinned widely, "Pleased to meet you, Matthew."

Matthew blushed and glanced away, before mumbling, "You too."

"That's a nice ring," Alfred remarked, his blue eyes landed on Matthew's left hand.

The strawberry blond looked down, "Oh. Thanks. It's not… I mean—never mind."

"I was almost married once myself. It didn't work out though," Alfred said wistfully.

Matthew nodded, "I know how that goes. It's an engagement ring. But…I don't know."

"It's a big decision," Alfred said with a nod of finality.

"No kidding." Matthew rubbed a hand over his left ribs, his face carefully blank.

Alfred shifted his head, "Life's full of the unexpected, I've found. You just never know. Plans fall through sometimes."

"That's very true," Matthew agreed.

Soon the bus lurched forward once again before stopping. The strawberry blond man looked up to see it was his stop this time.

"Um, I have to get off here," he mumbled.

"What? Oh, this is my stop too!"

Matthew gave Alfred a small smile and got up to follow him off the bus. He glanced down at his phone to see that he actually had an extra ten minutes before his appointment. Elizabeta had better have been right to recommend this therapist.

Alfred returned his smile, "Well, it was nice to meet you, Matthew. Maybe we'll bump into each other again." Alfred winked and went on his merry way.

Matthew nodded and walked toward the café nearby. He'd have enough time to get his coffee before he had to go to the clinic.

Once he arrived at the office, conveniently located across the street, he filled out the paperwork and sent a snarky text to Elizabeta Héderváry...well, that used to be her last name... Elizabeta was his dearest friend and his new roommate.

'_You know, if I get kidnapped by one of the weirdos out here, I will tell said kidnapper to come after you so at least I have some company—even if you're crazy.'_

Elizabeta replied, _'Excuse you! That was uncalled for! And he'd probably be a really hot kidnapper that you totally would have the hots for. Don't send me those weak threats of yours.'_

'_Sorry. It's just what if he finds me? You never know.'_

Elizabeta's reply was serious this time. _'Look, you're in the witness protection program—we both are—so you'll be fine. But they're right, you do need someone to talk to (who's objective) and Kiku said this was a good place!'_

'_Text me a novel, why don't you,'_ Matthew replied rhetorically._ 'Gotta go.'_

He rubbed his hands over his thin arms chasing away the chill that ran up his spine from Elizabeta's words. It reminded him why he was here to begin with.

"Mr. Williams?" called a soft, lilting voice.

The blond looked up at the tiny blond woman, a tomboyish girl really, who called his name. She stuck her hand out and shook his hand. "I'm Lili Zwingli. Pleased to meet you."

"You too," Matthew replied quietly.

She smiled sweetly at him and gestured to the long corridor of offices. "This way."

He sat in the comfortable armchair across from his therapists' once they entered the last office. He clasped and unclasped his hands over and over again and bit his lip.

"Care for some tea, Matthew?"

He shook his head and pointed at the sealed water bottle he carried with him, the other item he'd bought at the café. "I'm good. Thanks."

She nodded before pouring herself a cup. The scent of rose petals and mint slowly filled the room. "Well, what do you want to talk about today?"

He shrugged again. "I thought you would just ask me questions and how I feel or something…"

Lili looked at him thoughtfully with bright green eyes. "I suppose we can do that. Just so you know, everything said in here is confidential unless I strongly believe you may seriously harm yourself or purposely put yourself at risk. These sessions are for you and you can tell me whatever you like."

Matthew felt some pressure in his shoulders loosen and he nodded. "Well, uh… I don't know what Elizabeta told you when she made the appointment, but um, I moved out here a couple of weeks ago. The police have me in their witness protection program." He twisted the engagement ring absently as he spoke.

"Can I ask what happened?"

Matthew nodded and shrugged, "I guess…I don't know where to start really."

"Anywhere you'd like. Maybe why you're in the program is a good place to begin. You can share whatever you like."

Matthew bit his lip, his hands still clasping and unclasping the other. He thought back to everything that had happened over the last several months. His lift had changed so quickly and he was in trouble before he'd even realised it. He twisted the ring again; that's where it had all started really.

"Well, I guess it all started with the hockey team. My friend Tino Väinämöinen convinced me to join our town's team with him because he wanted to play and he had a giant crush on this Swedish guy on it. I thought Berwald was kind of terrifying but he is more of a gentle giant, I guess. He was always decent to both Tino and I. Tino and I met because we used to play hockey together when we were kids. We lost touch for a long time and ran into each other in the supermarket one day. I was looking for my favourite maple syrup brand and Tino was getting some stuff to… He kind of walked into me and I ended up with gouda cheese all over me. Apparently they didn't package the stuff very well… Anyway, after that we started catching each other up on our lives and occasionally we'd go out for drinks."

Matthew smiled as he got caught up in the memory.

"Bonnefoy, you really have a good tolerance, you know?" Tino's slightly glazed and bright lavender eyes caught Matthew's.

The taller blond grinned, "Thanks."

Tino brought his glass of Finnish vodka up to Matthew's pint and they clinked together. "Cheers!"

The Finnish man grinned and took another swig; Matthew followed. "So how come you don't date anyone?"

"Tino!" Matthew admonished with a slight blush.

"What? Are you celibate or something?"

"You have no shame," Matthew shook his head. "No, I'm not celibate…I just haven't found the right person."

"Well, you never will if you don't ever give anyone a shot. C'mon. I'd date you. You're good looking! What's your type anyway?"

Matthew blushed again and mumbled, "I don't know. I guess, I like guys…as you guessed… But uh, I don't know. Tall guys?"

"That hurts," Tino said dramatically.

"Hey! It's not that you're too short for me… I just… Well you're my friend and I know you like that Swedish guy you keep mentioning."

It was Tino's turn to blush, "Yeah yeah. Good guess."

"Not a guess. It's pretty damn obvious."

Tino punched Matthew's shoulder lightly.

"Hey!"

"Okay okay. If I ask him out, you have to join his hockey team with me so you can meet guys that you're into. It's a great way to meet people! And it's fun and I know you're kickass at hockey," Tino said.

Matthew sighed and magnanimously agreed, "Fine."

"Hey, maybe you'll even impress the scary Russian. He's their kickass goalie."

Matthew rolled his eyes. "As if."

The next weekend rolled around and Matthew and Tino were on the hockey team. Tino tried out for defence and got it in one while Matthew tried out for centre forward and impressed the team with an amazing three goals that went into the opposing net consecutively. It was only a practice but they both had what the team needed.

"You play well," Ivan Braginsky commented and nodded to Matthew as he left the ice rink.

Tino poked his friend in the side. "Told ya."

Berwald Oxenstierna nodded and shook Matthew's hand, "He's right."

The Fin looked up at Berwald wondering if he liked his playing skills too. Berwald turned to Tino and Matthew swore his eyes light up ever so slightly as if they were smiling. "You too." The tall Swede took Tino's smaller hand and brushed his fingers across the top of it. Then in a surprise move, he lent down and brushed his lips over Tino's hand.

Tino blushed and smiled. "Thanks."

Matthew brought himself back to the present and smiled at Lili. "Those two were meant to be."

Lili smiled and nodded, "Sounds like it."

"Well with hockey, the players usually go out for drinks after our games and we definitely had a lot of drinks after our first game. We killed the other team and won like ten to nothing or something like that and that's when I really got to know Ivan," Matthew explained.

"I got really wasted that night. Tino did too but Berwald was kind enough to take him home. I guess I convinced him that I would be fine with the other guys because I'd wanted to stay out or something. I remember Ivan talking to Berwald before they left in their cab.

"Emil, Matthias, Lukkas, Toris, and Gilbert were all still at the bar so I stayed with them. Gilbert left when Ivan got back—they didn't really get on very well, I guess. I vaguely remember Ivan taking me home a little while later. He had a personal driver and he insisted. That kind of started it all.

"It was actually really nice. He always made sure I got home safely and stuff. He kind of took care of me that way and I thought he was easy on the eyes. Anyway…" Matthew blushed when he noticed Lili's smile.

"It's okay to want to be taken care of," she said.

Matthew blushed again and shrugged. "Ugh it's sort of emasculating…"

"That's society's view, and it overlooks the fact that everyone wants to be taken care of at some point or another, regardless of their gender."

"I guess. It was nice at the time… and then I got to know Ivan better… and well, here I am," Matthew swallowed heavily.

Lili's smiled waned and she nodded. "It looks like our time is up today but I hope you'll make another appointment next week. Does two appointments each week work for you?"

Matthew nodded.

"I'm not here on weekends so let's start next week," the young therapist said.

"Okay."

Matthew picked up his red hoodie and tugged it over his head and headed out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes once he was outside again. The door opened just behind him and he was nearly shoved over as someone tried to walk through him. The blond caught himself before he fell and he glared at the person who nearly knocked him over.

"Hey!" Then he stopped when he realized it was that guy he met earlier. Alfred Something.

Alfred looked up, blue eyes wide and smiling, "Hey! Matthew right?"

"Uh yeah…"

"Shit did I run you down? Sorry man, I didn't even see you."

"That happens…" Matthew muttered and walked toward the bus.

Alfred hurried to catch up to the other man, "Hey wait! Can I buy you a drink or something?"

Matthew flinched and stopped in his tracks. He slowly looked at Alfred from over his shoulder, "Um no, thanks… I don't drink."

"Oh sorry, dude! What about coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate?"

"No thanks, I have to go home."

"Is it 'cause I crashed into you? I said I was sorry. Please? Let me make it up to you," Alfred insisted.

Matthew shook his head, "It's fine. I don't care about that. I just really have to go."

The strawberry blond grabbed his phone and called a cab. There was no way he was going to chance taking a bus with this creepy persistent guy.

Alfred sighed. "Well, if you change your mind, here's my number."

He pulled out a card with his cell phone number on it and handed it to Matthew. "And just so you know…" Alfred reached into his jacket pocked to pull something out. Matthew tensed until he was presented with a badge. A cop's badge. Matthew looked at him fearfully, wondering what this guy wanted; he hadn't done anything and the police at the witness protection program said that no one would know he was here unless they had come with him, like Elizabeta had. Some authorities would be informed but it would be on a strictly need to know basis since his record was clean.

Matthew bit his lip and nodded, "Did I do anything wrong?"

Alfred's eyes widened, "No, of course not! I just wanted to let you know that I'm not some creep or something… if that's what you were thinking."

Matthew tilted his head and nodded bewildered. "Uh…okay. I'm going home now."

The cop's shoulders dropped. "No problem. Get home safe. Keep that card if you want."

"Thanks."

The strawberry blond waited a few minutes before the cab came up to the curb and hopped in. He watched the police officer walk to the bus stop and wondered why the man wasn't driving his own car. He shrugged and leaned against the window, anxious to be home. 

* * *

_a/n: Whew! Um so yeah, this is gonna be a few chapters long but not a lot of chapters… I'd like to get it done within a month or so… but usually I don't have a ton of time for updating my fics. So I'm gonna make an effort to finish this in a few chapters. I've put down some of the other stories I've been working on for the time being but I do intend to finish 'Long Way to Happy'. I have no idea when however._


	2. Chapter 2

Eyes That See Everything  
by keisan

Chapter 2

_a/n: Consider Hetalia officially disclaimed. I do not own Hetalia or any song references. Merci beaucoup.  
_

* * *

The resonant tones of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' filled the dark broody pub. A young dark-haired man bobbed his head from behind the bar as he grabbed the half full bottle of vodka from its shelf. He poured himself two shots and poured them down his throat, the burn warming him from the inside. It was the only thing that was warming him at the moment; a winter storm howled outside the pub and a chill was working its way down the man's spine at the prospect of who was scheduled to arrive shortly. He suppressed the fear working its way through him. Breathe, he said to himself. He picked up his pocket watch and glanced at the time. Ten minutes, he thought worriedly.

"Hey," came a familiar soft voice, unbidden.

"Fuck! Feliks, you can't sneak up on me like that!" cried the brunette. "You know who's coming today!"

"Yeah yeah, the fucking Russian who always has you on edge. I know, Toris," Feliks Łukasiewicz sighed irritably. "I wish you'd stop talking to him. He's _so_ immature and he's an asshole to boot."

"You know I can't do that. He got me out of trouble that one time… we have history!" Toris Laurinaitis protested.

"And clearly it doesn't matter to you he's a crazy fucker. Seriously, you totally need new friends," Feliks crossed his arms obstinately. He hated how the Russian controlled his friend, well he liked Toris as more than just a friend, but the other man didn't have to know that. "Who knows what he's done… He's got that split personality! I just don't know how you don't see it."

"Look, I told him I'd talk to him. He's just trying to find his fiancé. He's lonely, not crazy."

Feliks rolled his eyes, "Maybe his fiancé left for a good reason…"

Toris sighed and shook his head looking doubtful.

The bell on the door rang to signal someone entering the pub. Toris' and Feliks' eyes shot over to the heavy door, the storm only raged inside for a moment before the door fell closed with a heavy slam. Two figures loomed in the doorway still bathed in shadow, only the weak pub lighting gleamed off the smaller man's light brown hair. Beside him, a taller, bulkier figure that seemed to consume all of the space around him fixated a pair of crazed pale violet eyes on the two at the bar.

"I arranged this meeting for us alone, little Toris, _da_? What is the Pole doing here?" came an unexpected tenor voice. It sent shivers down the spines of all the other occupants in the room. No one tried to hide their fear save for the blond Pole.

"I'm here for support is all," Feliks muttered.

Toris narrowed his eyes and shook his head at the blond toward the exit. "Feliks was just going. Can I get you anything, Mr. Braginsky?"

"Da, vodka will be nice. And we are not so formal; call me Ivan," the Russian replied. He nodded to the smaller man beside him, "Come little Raivis. You must be parched."

Raivis Galante didn't even bother to stifle his shaking and he dragged his leaden legs toward the bar stool Ivan nodded to. He sat heavily and hid his shaking hands under his legs, not even bothering to remove his winter coat. Ivan removed his thick fur coat and handed it to his assistant, Raivis, who hung it on the coat rack before sitting down again. Ivan sat heavily on the stool and steepled his fingers together while his arms rested on the bar table.

Toris poured the bottle of vodka into three double shot glasses. He glanced at Feliks again and the other left with an almost fearful shake of his head. Feliks glanced at Ivan just as he threw on his coat and scowled at the shark-like smile the Russian gave him. He barely resisted the urge to give the man the finger as he stocked out the door.

"You need to keep a tighter leash on that one, Toris. I do not want him causing us trouble," Ivan said.

The Lithuanian nodded quickly as a sliver of fear pierced him. "He won't. I promise."

"Good. I would hate to have to deal with it myself. Now, you will tell me what you know as promised," Ivan reached into his deep pocket and dropped two large stacks of notes on the bar table.

Toris bit his lip and nodded and glanced at Raivis as well. "I need your word that you or your people will not do anything to harm Feliks first."

Ivan smiled his shark-like smile again, "_Da_. You have my word. Now speak."

Unbeknownst to either party, a young, vindictive Belarusian woman who had snuck in through the back of the pub had her ear pressed to the wooden door leading from the kitchen and was listening to and soaking in every single word spoken.

* * *

Matthew groaned as the high pitched wailing of some pop song started blasting throughout the apartment. He rubbed his exhausted eyes and glanced at his alarm clock, which notably did **not** go off.

"Shit," he cursed aloud.

An off-key voice was suddenly added to the cacophony of noise. "_Trouble trouble_!"

The strawberry blond man pressed the heels of his hands to his temples and he cried out the offensive voice's name, "Liz!"

The noise carried on, and he shouted his roommate's name once again.

His bedroom door swung open and the 'music' filled the room even more than it had been. Elizabeta stood in the doorway with a smile on her lips and a hand on one hip. "Yes, dear?"

Matthew groaned again as the light from the hallway trickled into the room and he pouted at his friend, "Could you turn that down, please?"

The chorus suddenly picked up and Elizabeta lip-synched the words of the blasted song and shook her head. "Time to get up!"

Matthew buried himself under the covers and pressed his hands to his ears.

The young Hungarian woman pranced over to his bed and pulled the covers off. "Hey, you have to be at work in a half hour. If you get up now I'll make you pancakes," she bribed.

"Ugh. Fine. Just make sure you use real maple syrup. I don't want any of that fake stuff," Matthew warned.

Elizabeta waved him off, a smile graced her lips as she made her way out into the hallway of their two bedroom apartment.

After a speedy breakfast, which had turned out deliciously in Matthew's opinion, he ran out the door for work and blew a kiss to his friend in thanks. She yelled out a quick, "Say hi to Feli for me!"

Luckily he worked very close to home so he was able to make it in time. Feliciano Vargas greeted Matthew with an exuberant, "_Buongiorno, Matteo_!" Matthew gave him a half smile and replied with a quiet, "Hey Feli. Elizabeta says hi." He looked around for the Italian's older, gruffer brother.

"Where's Lovino?"

"Oh, he's a… he's on a business trip. He left this morning," Feliciano said awkwardly in his lilting Italian accent.

"What? Where did he go?" Matthew queried.

"Um… he wouldn't tell me but he will be back in a week's time," the Italian bit his lip.

The Canadian nodded. He noticed Feliciano seemed a little upset but he didn't want to push the other man further.

By lunchtime, the little bookshop café was bustling and orders were coming a mile a minute. Matthew and Feliciano could barely keep up. Matthew finished putting in yet another batch of French croissants while Feliciano was serving up an espresso to a customer. Lovino had reluctantly given the okay when Matthew proposed the melt-in-your-mouth French pastry and backed up his point with his baking talent.

A few minutes later when Feliciano was making yet another cappucino, a customer's loud, obnoxious voice caught him off guard.

"C'mon! I have somewhere to be! Hurry up!"

Matthew narrowed his eyes on the customer; the man was tall with very light blond hair spiked up at the front. Feliciano was clearly getting upset and frazzled and as he poured another drink his hand knocked over a tea he'd also made; the scalding liquid splashed all over his arm. The Italian whimpered and shook his limb, hoping the faster he got the tea off his arm, the faster the pain would go away.

Matthew stepped over to the counter and said quietly, "Excuse me, but you'll have to be patient. As you can see, we are very busy today and there are only two of us."

"Tch! Well I'm the customer! I'm always right," scoffed the angry man.

Feliciano was still trying to wipe off the burning liquid with a cold cloth now. He glanced up at Matthew gratefully.

"I'm sorry, sir. I will get you a new drink," Feliciano said to the aggravated customer. Matthew wondered how anyone could get angry at such a sweet man, but this guy wouldn't give up.

"I don't fucking have time for this!" he yelled as he slammed a hand down on the counter making both Matthew and Feliciano wince, his cursing reminded them of another hot tempered Italian but that Italian wouldn't have been quite so harsh on the two baristas.

"Excuse me," growled a voice, thick with a German accent belonging to a man that was a few places behind the angry Nordic man. "I think you should apologize."

The man who came to café workers' rescue was a blond man who was largely built, his hair was gelled back and he had strict-looking light blue eyes. The angry customer glared at the German man and pressed his lips together until he saw that the man wasn't about to back down. He exhaled angrily, muttered an apology, and took the new drink Feliciano handed him. He threw the appropriate amount of money on the counter and stalked out of the café.

Matthew and Feliciano watched for a moment as he left and sighed. The blond man that came to their rescue lowered his eyes to observe the short Italian man still holding the cloth over his burnt arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Feliciano looked up, pretty golden brown eyes met perfect blue ones. "_Sí. Grazie_," he murmured. His olive-tinted cheeks reddened and he amended, "I mean—yes, thank you."

The large blond man merely quirked a small smile at the Italian's language slip and he glanced at the man's burnt arm. "You should put it under cold water now."

Feliciano blinked. "Huh? Oh! _Grazie_, I will!"

Matthew blinked slowly at the exchange before smiling slightly. "Feli, why don't you take your break now. It's half past twelve."

Feliciano still hadn't stopped looking at the German man, who was now picking up his strong black coffee Matthew had placed on the other counter, and he nodded dumbly, "_Sí,_ good idea."

He put his arm under cold water while surreptitiously looking back at the man who had come to his rescue. He decided he would ask the man's name and maybe get to know him. He seemed so sweet!

Matthew smiled knowingly as he watched Feliciano approach the German man now sitting at a table. The blond looked up at Feliciano inquisitively and nodded at whatever the Italian had said to him. They shook hands, but the brunet didn't seem to be appeased at just that as he leant forward and kissed the man's cheeks twice. The German seemed taken aback and his cheeks reddened considerably. Matthew could see he was barely restraining himself from going further and hugging the blond man. The Canadian quirked his lips and checked on his croissants. Not a bad day, he thought.

* * *

When Matthew got back home later that night, Elizabeta was on the phone in the kitchen talking in a solemn voice.

"He's handling it pretty well, I think," she said into the receiver. "I really don't think that's necessary. It's just going to make him more paranoid."

She sighed heavily at the obvious negative response, Matthew observed with a frown. Who was she talking to? He wondered.

He quietly went back to the door and opened and closed it loudly. He heard her murmuring into the phone and ending the call.

"Elizabeta?" he called as she came into the hall. She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Hi hun, how was work?" she asked.

Matthew sighed knowing she wasn't going to say anything to him about the call. "It was okay… We had an angry customer but another customer stepped in. How was your day?"

Elizabeta nodded distractedly. "Good. I got a call from the temp agency. My interview's tomorrow."

The blond smiled at the girl, "That's great, Liz."

She quirked a smile, "Thanks. How's Feli?"

"Good," Matthew replied easily, "The guy that spoke up at the café seems to have gotten his attention. His name is Ludwig."

The woman smiled widely, "Cute! Is he nice?"

"Yeah, he seems like a good guy; he seems a little antisocial, but you know how Feli is."

Elizabeta giggled, "That I do. I wonder what Lovino thinks."

Matthew shrugged, "He's gone away on a business trip apparently. Feli doesn't know where. I'm not sure if they're on the best of terms at the moment."

The brunette nodded, "Lovino's a handful."

"I'll make dinner then. What about a casserole?" Matthew said and smiled at Elizabeta's nod.

They made great roommates, both helped out with the cooking and cleaning. Matthew was glad that Elizabeta had been able to come with him. After all the craziness with the police in their old town and the case, she had been his rock. Matthew was grateful and felt guilty that she had to leave the boy she'd fallen in love with back home, Gilbert Beilschmidt. Gilbert wasn't privy to where they'd gone, the last words she said to him were a complete lie but she had to keep her mouth shut about where she and Matthew were going. Matthew and Elizabeta were supposed to change their full names but they'd found it difficult to leave that along with everything else behind them so they just changed their last names. They had been relocated and no one they'd ever known knew their whereabouts so both were certain it would be okay. Elizabeta usually went by 'Liz' anyway and that was a fairly common name. They were now Matthew Williams and Liz Katko.

Matthew picked at his dinner and looked at his friend. "So. Did anything interesting happen today?"

Elizabeta looked at him startled out of her reverie, "No, just the call for the job interview. Why?"

Matthew shrugged.

"Mattie."

"I heard you," Matthew said.

"What?"

"On the phone. Earlier before you saw me come in. I overheard."

Elizabeta cringed, "Oh?"

"Yeah. So are you gonna tell me what's going on or what?"

"What makes you think it has anything to do with you?" Elizabeta asked carefully.

"Because you think I'm paranoid!" Matthew admonished.

"I don't think that!" she protested.

"Yes you do. What's going on? What's 'not necessary'?"

Elizabeta pressed her lips together, "Like I said, it has nothing to do with you."

"Are you still mad at me? About Gilbert? About leaving with me? Maybe you shouldn't have come," Matthew said bitterly.

"No! I'm not! I told you I'm your friend and I'm not going to leave you in this on your own!" Elizabeta was getting upset.

"But I'm fine on my own! I always was fine because I'm used to it!" Matthew cried.

"Everyone needs people, Matthew. It's not a bad thing. And don't you dare go on about being invisible, you're the only one who can't see yourself and your good qualities, so you assume everyone else can't see you either," Elizabeta said angrily.

"I didn't and what the hell, Liz? It's true! I was invisible. How else do you explain people trying to freaking walk through me?"

The young woman shook her head, "You need to start seeing yourself in a better light, hun. And clinging to someone who 'sees' you isn't the answer. Look at how that turned out."

Matthew sniffled and glanced at his engagement band. He twisted it half bitterly half fondly. A tear splashed down on the back of his hand and trickled over a faint scar.

"Matthew—" Elizabeta started.

"No. I-I'm tired," Matthew got up and pushed his chair in quietly.

"But you hardly ate!" she protested.

"I'm not hungry. I'll see you tomorrow," Matthew sighed and brushed away his tears.

* * *

_a/n : So I think that this is a good place to stop for now. More will be unraveled soon! Note that I chose Elizabeta's name from a list of Hungarian surnames. Please review, lovelies! And to Symphony, thank you!_


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